At Allianz Stadium on Friday night, he threatened a heavyweight personal stoush with Nikola Petkovic, then scored the goal that put Brisbane ahead, before lunging into a reckless tackle on Sebastian Ryall, followed by a fit of hysteria. The first, triggered after being pushed by Ryall into Thomas Broich’s knee, the second when he was sent off for the original foul.

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All that happened before half-time and the match was infinitely poorer for his absence in the closing 45 minutes. A win would have put Sydney FC equal second – level with Western Sydney, no less – but they hardly looked any more likely playing against 10 as they did against 11.

Indeed, Brisbane were unlucky not to take three points for their first-half swagger and second-half spirit but were denied by some heroics from Vedran Janjetovic – another fine display from the Sky Blues’ custodian.

Fans arriving at the ground were treated to the shock of seeing Alessandro Del Piero omitted from the team sheet, his hamstring not having recovered in time. That led to a change in formation and Alex Urosevski playing as a left-sided attacker.

Sydney had the better of the first minute or so – Seb Ryall even testing Michael Theo from range – but were then dominated.

But that was due, in part, to how Sydney set up: so deep towards the Randwick end they were nearly in the racecourse stables.

The 4-2-3-1 Sydney coach Frank Farina invoked in attack folded into a flat 4-5-1 in defence, two banks of players to create a blue wall, the kind which seemed impenetrable to the naked eye.

However, finding holes in a Swiss cheese defence is what Brisbane does best. Brattan’s sweeping pass from his own half landed with Broich, and the German showed delightful control to take the ball and then curl it towards Berisha. A lesser striker would have made a meal of it, but he is no ordinary finisher.

Berisha lost Petkovic, and looped his header that took an aeon to drop – which it did, first over Vedran Janjetovic and then over the line.

Now the challenge was whether Sydney could respond, just as they did in the derby. Sure enough, they did.

Petkovic made up for his error by swinging in a well-taken corner that Ryall met solidly, blasting his header into the roof of the net.

Berisha’s sending off then swung the match dramatically in favour of the hosts. He lunged in against Ryall with a rash challenge, one which – after much rolling around on the ground – saw Peter O’Leary produce a red card. He trudged off inconsolably; even Farina threw his arm around the crest-fallen Albanian.

Sydney would enter the second half buoyed by the knowledge the game was now theirs to lose, despite needing to find a winner from somewhere.

While Mike Mulvey had no choice but to abandon Brisbane’s free-flowing style, old habits die hard. Even with a man less, they still passed and prodded away, their talisman sitting disconsolately in the dressing room.

A cry went up when Del Piero was shown on the big screen, sitting beside his wife. If only they could send him on, some must have thought, the result would not be for the begging. At least Sydney have already started planning for life without the Italian.

5 comments so far

I won't be surprised to here calls for the axing of Barlow, Farina & Pignata again the 2nd half performance we delivered tonight! Lack of creativity, not enough attacking intent, too many poor passes against a side (albeit the Premiers-elect) with a man down. It's just not good enough we want to be the best team in the comp and do well in the ACL!

Something major needs to change for next season - and I'm not talking about releasing ADP (even though he didn't play tonight!) - as I can't see us getting much better than this with the current management setup at the club...

Commenter

Arto

Location

Oslo

Date and time

March 14, 2014, 10:25PM

Was it really necessary for Berisha to roll around for a minute after a little cut?

Commenter

Ryan

Date and time

March 14, 2014, 11:02PM

Sydney was terrible. I'm a Sydney FC member, have been since inception.

Commenter

nap-in-the shade

Location

sydney

Date and time

March 15, 2014, 8:11AM

Berisha's tackle was disgraceful although not as disgraceful as his performance afterwards, worst sportsmanship I've seen in a long time. Brisbane are however on another level, their passing accuracy is incredible and ever player in the team seems to have a great first touch. Even when they were a man down they were all over us, very lucky to get a point - FC fan...

Commenter

LG

Date and time

March 15, 2014, 10:04AM

Loved the headline of this article; there was a time when the 10-man team held the full team. Evidently sydney fc is at the level where if they hold a 10-man team it's noted as an achievement.

14 Mar
Western Sydney Wanderers striker Brendon Santalab is in contention to play against Adelaide United on Saturday despite being under investigation for alleged racial abuse directed at Sydney FC's Ali Abbas.

14 Mar
It was once the only genuine derby in the A-League but has since fallen behind the pecking order of those in Melbourne and Sydney in terms of profile and public interest but Central Coast Mariners winger Nick Fitzgerald says their on-field rivalry with Newcastle Jets has only grown over the years.

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